4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
Eight years in the making, a most exciting film about cargo bikes and family biking is finally here! Fresh off the film festival circuit, the first non-festival showing of Motherload will be here in Portland this Thursday at 7pm at the Clinton Street Theater.
Sarah Iannarone made it official today: She wants to be mayor of Portland.
If you’re a low-car Portlander, you understand that driving around the city is often more trouble than it’s worth. You probably also find shared electric scooters to be a useful addition to the mobility mix. But where do these vehicles fit into the rules of the road?
Now there’s a handy new guide from a local law firm that lays it all out.
Our friends at Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost have released, Oregon E-Scooter Rights: A Legal Guide for Electric Scooter Users (PDF). This is the fifth booklet from TCN&F since their popular Pedal Power cycling guide was published in 2000.
Note: This is part of a larger project on Tillamook that we covered back in February.
Speed bumps are scheduled for construction on NE Tillamook on July 9 and July 10 between NE 16th and 28th. The road will be closed to through traffic with local access only during construction. The schedule may change due to weather or unforeseen circumstances. The project website will be updated with information about changes to the schedule.
Please do not bike through the construction zone – use NE Hancock or NE Thompson, or walk your bike on the sidewalk.
Speedbumps are included in this project because vehicle speeds on Tillamook are currently higher than the speeds recommended by the operational performance guidelines set by Portland’s Neighborhood Greenway Assessment Report. We are also including speed bumps in this project because we will be turning stop signs on Tillamook to favor the greenway. While turning the stop signs allows people walking and biking to travel more efficiently along the greenway, it can also attract people to drive on the greenway. The speed bumps help discourage driving on the greenway.
Please visit our project webpage for more information about the Tillamook Neighborhood Greenway Enhancement Project] and be in touch if you have any questions.
City contact: Liz Rickles, Capital Project Manager – 503-823-7078 – elisabeth.rickles@portlandoregon.gov
This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Community Cycling Center, the Portland-based nonprofit that’s celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…
“20-minute neighborhoods” and air quality: What if the health benefits of Portland’s much-ballyhooed walkable urbanism were cancelled out by the daily scourge of toxic traffic?
This week we’re happy to share a profile of reader Skip Spitzer.
I met Skip on my Bike to School Day bike ride to the ‘Red for Ed’ rally, though I’d noticed his trailer in photos of various bike events around town before. As luck would have it, he was at the Woodstock Elementary play structure a couple weeks later while I was running a bike rodeo and he was nice enough to stick around for a conversation and a few photos…
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office has filed an indictment against Nicholas Martinez, the driver who struck and killed Lance Hart while he rode his bicycle on SE Flavel Street in the early morning hours of June 23rd.
Martinez, who faced a judge at a hearing this morning, is being charged on three counts: Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Misdemeanor Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants, and Reckless Driving.
In the probable cause affidavit filed last week, Deputy DA Kelley Rhoades said a witness saw Martinez get into his car at the 7-11 on SE 82nd and Flavel and then leave the parking lot “in an aggressive manner ‘at a high rate of speed'” just prior to the crash. Here’s an excerpt from the affidavit:
When it comes to boosting bicycle mode share, where we build our homes is more important than how we build our streets. Density of residential dwellings matters because the viability of bicycle use increases as people live closer to their jobs, schools, friends, and other destinations.
That’s why we’ve talked up the connection between cycling and land-use planning and zoning on this site for well over a decade.
Now we’re very happy to share that over the weekend the Oregon Legislature passed a bill that bans single-family zoning. This is a boon for the potential of efficient transportation modes like cycling, and transit.
Here’s the lowdown from Michael Andersen at Sightline:
If signed by Gov. Kate Brown in the next month, House Bill 2001 will strike down local bans on duplexes for every low-density residential lot in all cities with more than 10,000 residents and all urban lots in the Portland metro area.
There are many aspects of living in a bike-friendly city that are never captured in myriad annual lists and rankings.
This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Rack Attack.
Here are the most noteworthy stories we came across in the past seven days…
Today Westfir is as quiet as it was 100 years ago. The loudest thing is the roar of water over rocks in the nearby river. But it wasn’t always such a sleepy place.
Three great opportunities in the local bike industry have been listed recently.
Learn more about each one via the links below…
–> Part-time Mechanic/Service Writer – Abraham Fixes Bikes
–> Customer Service Representative – King Cycle Group, Inc
–> Full Time Experienced Bicycle Mechanic – Seven Corners Cycles